Sunday, September 30, 2012

Missing In Action
Today’s papers report the bloody milestone of two thousand GI fatalities in Afghanistan–the majority
coming on the watch of the President who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize soon after his election. In
addition to ten thousand Afghan “friendlys,” more than a thousand NATO allied troops, including 433
from Britain and 158 from Canada, have also perished since the invasion/occupation began eleven years
ago. It’s estimated at least ten times that number of other Afghans and Pakistanis–many
noncombatants–have been killed by NATO forces.

But there are not only MIAs in Afghanistan. Also missing in action is any substantial debate, much less
protest, on the home front about this longest war in American history. The “Peace Democrats” so vocal
when it was “Bush’s War” mostly have laryngitis. The traditional peace & justice groups take care not
to give aid and comfort to the enemy–the Republicans.

The United National Antiwar Coalition–who played a prominent role in the antiwar protests at the
NATO Summit in Chicago in May–is promoting local demonstrations around the eleventh anniversary
of the invasion next weekend that includes the demand of Out Now. If there’s one in your area I urge
you to show your support.

‘There’s Something Happening Here’
That line from a 1968 Stills song was chosen by Steven Ashby as the title for a perceptive opinion piece
in the Chicago Tribune. Ashby is a University of Illinois professor of labor relations I have encountered
in non-academic settings over a good many years. He is co-author of an excellent book, The Staley
Workers and the Fight for a New American Labor Movement and spoke about the lessons of the
Decatur struggle at a 2009 conference in Kansas City sponsored by the kclabor.org website in
partnership with Labor Notes Troublemakers Schools. What he writes is usually worth reading and this
piece is no exception.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Each Monday-Friday, by
9AM Central, we’ll post links to news stories and analytical articles
of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by
editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be
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Thursday, September 27, 2012

Each Monday-Friday, by
9AM Central, we’ll post links to news stories and analytical articles
of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by
editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be
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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Each Monday-Friday, by
9AM Central, we’ll post links to news stories and analytical articles
of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by
editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be
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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Each Monday-Friday, by
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of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by
editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be
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Monday, September 24, 2012

Each Monday-Friday, by
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of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by
editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be
followed with a *. The Times pay wall policy allows free access to only about ten
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“For generations of Americans, it was a given that children would live longer than their parents. But
there is now mounting evidence that this enduring trend has reversed itself for the country’s
least-educated whites, an increasingly troubled group whose life expectancy has fallen by four years
since 1990.”

While women of all class and demographic groups have historically outlived men these new peer
reviewed studies establish that the average life span of under-educated white women has dropped fastest
of all–a full five years between 1990-2008.

Tavernise notes,

“The five-year decline for white women rivals the catastrophic seven-year drop for Russian men in the
years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, said Michael Marmot, director of the Institute of Health
Equity in London.”

Friday, September 21, 2012

Each Monday-Friday, by
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of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by
editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be
followed with a *. The Times pay wall policy allows free access to only about ten
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Thursday, September 20, 2012

Each Monday-Friday, by
9AM Central, we’ll post links to news stories and analytical articles
of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by
editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be
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articles a month.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The tentative agreement between the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and Chicago Public Schools
(CPS) will not be final until it has been considered and ratified by the more than 26,000 CTU members.
In a union rebuilt around the principle of jealously guarded rank-and-file control, this is no mere
formality. But the approval of the 800-member House of Delegates, representing every school in the
system, by a 98-2 margin, indicates the likelihood of overwhelming membership endorsement of the
deal brought back to them by their negotiators.

And well they should. This is the biggest and most inspiring union victory since the 1997 UPS
Teamsters strike. It clearly demonstrates the resilience of unions said to be dying and proves the
obituaries of the traditional strike tactic to be bogus as well. At the same time however, it reminds us
of the limitations of what even the best led unions can accomplish through collective bargaining alone
today and implicitly poses the need for a labor party to be built by resurgent working class fighters–in
unions or out.

The CTU deserves not only our praise but emulation. While their experience cannot be exactly and
immediately replicated in every union much of what enabled them to prevail against long odds is
universally relevant for worker struggles. I won’t attempt a comprehensive analysis here but I want to
outline several factors that I see as enabling the CTU breakthrough.

Understanding Class

The CTU leadership departed from the prevailing strategy of class collaboration, “partnership” with the
employer, pursued by officials of most mainstream unions. They not only correctly viewed the Mayor
and unelected Board of Education as adversaries, not partners; they also understand that the national
ruling class sees public education as a long neglected opportunity for expanded private profit. This
national attack is coordinated by the Obama administration through Education Secretary Arne Duncan,
former CEO of CPS. The Race to the Top scam has not only facilitated expansion of public funded
Charter schools. It has also been a bonanza for companies doing the mandated testing, publishers of
outrageously priced text books, capital expenditures for computers, buildings, buses, etc. Along the way,
Obama and Duncan have not hesitated to smash teacher union resistance to these “reforms,” including
the temporary firing of every public school teacher at Central Falls High School in Rhode Island.

Confronting Race

The CTU has not hesitated to expose the impact of social conditions in the Urban Core abandoned by
white flight on learning. They fault CPS management for their neglect of the worst schools in the poorest
neighborhoods of color. A sample of their outlook was presented by CTU president Karen Lewis in an
excellent interview Race, Class at Center of Education Debate. This honest, proactive approach
facilitated winning allies within the community, including Rev Jesse Jackson.

Union Democracy

The CTU has a turbulent history of regime changes. The present one has proven to be legitimately
committed to promised democratic functioning. All of their strategy was discussed, modified and
decided with near consensus before negotiations began. The bosses knew the union bargaining team had
solid backing from the members–crucial to any successful outcome. When the central leadership, with
the best of intentions, sought to expedite the end of the strike the House of Delegates politely, but firmly
said we need more time. After a couple of days consulting with members in every school, the Delegates
gave their near unanimous consent.

Battling For Public Opinion

Many union officials, thinking private meetings with the bosses get things done, avoid publicity. That’s
not the CTU leaders style and the impact of their strike meant they were going to be the lead news story
of the day, like it or not. The spokespersons for the union did an exemplary job in getting their message
out in the media to compete with the CPS lies and distortions. Early polls showed far more supported
the union rather than the Mayor.

Visibility

The picket lines at every school, and in front of CPS headquarters were not glum, token gestures.
Teachers that hadn’t done much chanting or singing since college football games found their voice and
also engaged the public at these lively actions. In addition, there were at least three mass rallies
involving thousands. The strike showed a sympathetic human face,.

Labor Support

While the strike ran counter to what most unions do these days, support among union ranks was strong
and most officials gave at least lip service well wishes. Some, such as National Nurses United, SEIU,
and ATU demonstrated enthusiastic substantial solidarity. Even the tiny National Writers Union, a
UAW affiliate to which I belong, did what they could do to help with their very meager resources

What the CTU Didn’t and Couldn’t Win

When you look at a comparison of what the bosses initially seriously sought to what’s in the Tentative
Agreement, the achievements of this short strike are impressive. When you consider the present
collective bargaining climate–especially in the public sector–where the norm is wage and benefit cuts,
along with gutting of working conditions, it is in fact remarkable.

Nevertheless, the union negotiators acknowledge that while they got the best deal they think they can
presently obtain it falls short of many of the goals of the union’s program for revitalizing public
education. They are faced with the brutal reality that laws passed by labor’s perfidious “friends”
severely restrict bargaining for so-called “non-economic” issues. They can’t even mandate class size or
demand air conditioning in sweltering school buildings–much less more far reaching needed changes
in public education or redirection of funding to support them.

This is another specific example of how even organized workers cannot rely on collective bargaining
alone. As long as the ruling class maintains a monopoly of all things political we’re SOL on some of
our most vital issues.. I urge the CTU leadership to follow the logic of their class perspective by lending
the prestige they have earned by calling for the revival of the movement for a Labor Party.

In any case, I join in saluting the 26,000+ working class heros of AFT Local 1–the Chicago Teachers
Union.

Each Monday-Friday, by
9AM Central, we’ll post links to news stories and analytical articles
of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by
editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be
followed with a *. The Times pay wall policy allows free access to only about ten
articles a month.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Each Monday-Friday, by
9AM Central, we’ll post links to news stories and analytical articles
of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by
editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be
followed with a *. The Times pay wall policy allows free access to only about ten
articles a month.

Monday, September 17, 2012

I delayed the WIR until today awaiting the outcome of the Chicago Teachers House of Delegates first
look at an outline of a possible agreement that could end their strike. But, as a glance at today’s News
Update on the Labor Advocate Blog demonstrates, there were also lots of other labor and environmental
stories breaking over the weekend. I’ll touch on a few of them. Meanwhile, our efforts to get our
updates on the kclabor.org site once again continue while this WIR appears on our Blog, is sent out to
our Yahoo mailing list, and is usually cross-posted by our friends at Labor Standard.

Off the Job Education

It’s not easy keep up with a strike in progress in the limitations of a weekly column. By the time this
WIR is uploaded there may already be dramatic new developments. Over the years I have had some
personal experience in contract negotiations that have sometimes led to strikes. Like war, truth is often
an early victim in such struggles as both boss propaganda and rumors from various sources, pernicious
or naive, gnaw away at early striker enthusiasm. If neglected, this inevitable challenge can lead to
everything going sideways fast.

In my opinion, the Chicago teachers’ strike is proving to be the most important and inspiring major
walk-out since the 1997 UPS strike victory. I say this not just because of the scale of the action, and the
precedent it may set for other teacher contract battles. The most impressive thing about the strike so far
is the way the leadership prepared the members who elected them well in advance and have, with needed
tactical flexibility, stuck to a sound strategy.

Each Monday-Friday, by
9AM Central, we’ll post links to news stories and analytical articles
of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by
editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be
followed with a *. The Times pay wall policy allows free access to only about ten
articles a month.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Each Monday-Friday, by
9AM Central, we’ll post links to news stories and analytical articles
of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by
editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be
followed with a *. The Times pay wall policy allows free access to only about ten
articles a month.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Each Monday-Friday, by
9AM Central, we’ll post links to news stories and analytical articles
of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by
editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be
followed with a *. The Times pay wall policy allows free access to only about ten
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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Each Monday-Friday, by
9AM Central, we’ll post links to news stories and analytical articles
of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by
editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be
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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Each Monday-Friday, by
9AM Central, we’ll post links to news stories and analytical articles
of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by
editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be
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Monday, September 10, 2012

Each Monday-Friday, by
9AM Central, we’ll post links to news stories and analytical articles
of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by
editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be
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About the Blogger

Retiree member of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1287. Active member National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981. Webmaster of kclabor.org since March, 2000. Former Vice-President of ATU 1287. In Minneapolis during Seventies-Eighties held several posts in UE Local 1139 including Local President and Shop Chairman at Litton Microwave. Charter member of Labor Party Advocates. Founding member of US Labor Against the War.